Review by richard_sleboe

Writer-director Jim Libiran's first film is half feature, half documentary. "Tribu" is a slice of life from the poor Manila neighborhood where he grew up. Literally erected on a garbage dump, the quarter is now home to the many misfits of the Philippine capital. Out of work and out of love, they resort to rap, sex, and violence as their favorite pastimes. Gang wars abound; not even small children are spared if Libirian is to be believed. He relies almost exclusively on locals to play some version of themselves, or of people they know. They are not professional actors, at least not in the literal sense, although striking poses is obviously second nature to most of them. Paradoxically, edgy rap and macho rituals rule the streets when it's actually the females who seem to be in control in most families: women as "de facto" heads of house and girls as flirtatious manipulators of adolescent males. Unfortunately, it's hard to judge the all-important sayings, given that there is currently no fully subtitled (let alone dubbed) version of the movie. The few native speakers of Tagalog who were in the audience at the Berlinale festival screening seemed to enjoy it, especially the many, if petty domestic fight scenes. "Tribu" is raw both in content and craftsmanship. It's definitely not a crowd pleaser, but followers of musical trends and street culture will get their money's worth.